Nilsson, penalty killing elevate Sound Tigers

Anders Nilsson's 27 saves and some solid penalty killing led the Sound Tigers to a 3-0 win Saturday over the Springfield Falcons.

"Bogy (assistant coach Eric Boguniecki) and I were talking going off the ice and saying that's the Anders we remember," Bridgeport coach Scott Pellerin said.

"That's his game. He made big saves. He covered rebounds. ... He was tracking the puck."

Bridgeport killed off all 13 Falcons power plays, catching a bit of a break when two Springfield minor penalties took away all but a minute of what would've been a five-minute advantage for Marc Cantin's match penalty -- his second in a month for checks to the head -- late in the second period.

"We had a lot of penalties, but we were able to kill them off in a very good way," Nilsson said. "They didn't get a lot of Grade-A scoring chances though they had a lot of zone time."

Attendance was 4,368.

Nilsson's second shutout included six saves in the first six minutes. He said he was seeing pucks well, and what he didn't, the defense blocked.

Nilsson returned to Bridgeport after a three-week NHL stint with Friday's 2-1 loss in Albany; he made 20 saves, and though he said he should've stopped the first Devils goal, he thought it was a good way to come back.

This followed it up well.

"It's always fun to be up there," Nilsson said. "It builds good confidence for me, the higher speed, the higher tempo.

"Two pretty good games in a row is good for the confidence, to try to build it up going into the final part of the season."

Bridgeport scored goals 16 seconds apart late in the first period. Mike Halmo and Anders Lee forechecked to force a turnover; Andrew Clark fed Lee at the right post with 1:04 left in the period. Off the draw, Pierre-Marc Bouchard rushed up the left wing and set up Scott Mayfield for a wrist shot from the left circle with 47.3 seconds left.

"It's usually the response of the other team (to a goal)," Pellerin said. "I talked about how we wanted to be the aggressors, that we wanted to be on our toes."

Halmo scored on a five-on-three in the third.

Nilsson and the penalty kill had all they needed, setting a team record for most power plays killed in a game (11 on Nov. 3, 2007, in Hershey).

"Doug (Holewa, assistant coach) has been doing a great job, No. 1, scouting the opposition, and implementing a style and a system that's working with the personnel we have," Pellerin said. "The guys are executing it. Give him all the credit."

Centerman Ryan Strome sat out with an apparent left-hand injury suffered in Friday's loss at Albany. Pellerin said he's day-to-day; the team is off until Tuesday.